Action Action Action

Over one hundred and fifty years ago, on 1st August 1871, the Colony of New South Wales raised its first permanent Battery, known as the New South Wales Artillery. This battery complemented existing colonial volunteer batteries. The previous year, the last British forces had departed for England, leaving the young, dynamic colonies across Australia to uphold their own defences. This occasion marked the origins of the substantive, permanent presence of professional Australian artillery soldiers – a presence that endures to this day as the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery. In the years that have followed, Australian Gunners have served their country in war and in peace; abroad, and in the defence of their homeland, with honour and dedication, and will continue to do so into the future.

1st August 2021 marked a century and a half of unbroken dedication in the service of our community and the Nation by Australia’s Gunners – Volunteer, Militia, Reserve, Permanent and Regular; at home, and in far-off lands; defending assaults from the sea, in the sky, and on land; and advising, defending and supporting our comrades-in-arms through summoning and orchestrating devastating fires and effects that are accurate, responsive, dependable & joint. These are, and will remain, the tenets of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery in all its forms.

This is the story of Australia’s Gunners – so far.

About the Authors

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Floyd has over 35 years’ regular service with the Royal Australian Artillery in gun regiments, instructional institutions, Army and Defence Headquarters. He has served on warlike operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a Director of the RAAHC, he convened the Firepower: Lessons from the Great War Seminar Series, 2015 to 2018. He was previously the Army Contributing Historian to the Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor.

Major General Paul Stevens AO graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1967 and saw operational service in South Vietnam with 105 Battery, 1st Field Regiment. Later he was Commanding Officer/Chief Instructor of the School of Artillery, Director of Studies at the Army Command and Staff College, and Chief of Personnel – Army. He has previously written papers on the employment of artillery at Gallipoli and at the Battle of Fromelles.